A Kansas City man says Parkville police asked him to leave a municipal courtroom because he wouldn't take his turban off, something he says the officers called a hat.
But officials say it was a misunderstanding.
"I was surprised; I was a little bit disgusted by it," Anoop Choong said.
As a Sikh, he says he always wears a turban. He was wearing it when two police officers confronted him as he entered a courtroom last week. He was there early for a speeding ticket case.
Choong says one officer signaled for him to take it off, but he ignored it, thinking it was a mistake.
"They said I could either take off my hat or I'd be escorted out of the courtroom."
He refused to remove it, and he says he was shown the door.
"After I was escorted out of the courtroom, I literally told them it was a turban, that it wasn't a hat. It's rather something that's part of our religious attire. Even though I said that they completely disregarded that," Choong says.
Police Chief Kevin Chrisman told 41 Action News his officers understood the encounter a little differently.
"He never told us,” Chrisman said. "When he was asked if it was for religious purposes he should have said yes or no, and he never responded to us.”
It's procedure to ask people to take their hats off in court, but religious headpieces are allowed. Chrisman said the officers couldn't tell.
"Will we try to do better in the future in identifying? Well certainly," Chrisman said. "It's difficult because everyone expects police to be the know-all of everyone's culture, but it's also responsibility of that person to educate us in a civil manner, not disrupt court.”
Chrisman said when Choong refused to take his turban off in court it disrupted the docket hearings already taking place.
Since it's municipal court, there's no recording of the encounter.
Choong was eventually let back in the courtroom. He says the misunderstanding is disappointing.
"Even if you were ignorant of the culture, I think it's taking it way too far to think that it's just a hat," he said.
He hopes, if anything, what happened will start a discussion about different cultures and how officials should respond.
Chrisman wishes Choong would have brought the situation to his attention sooner.
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Sarah Plake can be reached at sarah.plake@kshb.com.
